she, seeing the elder woman somewhat at a loss, opened the subject herself:

‘You look troubled, auntie! I hope it is nothing serious?’

‘It is, my dear! Very serious! Everything is serious to me which touches you.’

‘Me, Auntie!’ Hypocrisy is a fine art.

‘Yes! yes, Stephen. Oh! my dear child, what is this I hear about your going to Petty Sessions with your father?’

‘Oh, that! Why, Auntie dear, you must not let that trouble you. It is all right. That is necessary!’

‘Necessary!’ the old lady’s figure grew rigid and her voice was loud and high. ‘Necessary for a young lady to go to a court house. To hear low people speaking of low crimes. To listen to cases of the most shocking kind; cases of low immorality; cases of a kind, of a nature of a —